Home Base for Large Family
 

We're still trying to narrow down a region in Italy for our family of 12 to vacation in a villa. Originally looked at Venice and now the lakes area but am concerned that an 11 day stay might get dull in those areas. Need region with lots of day trip possibilities because of small children and teenagers. Looking for interesting village for home base. Must travel in June due to school schedules so am worried about heat as well. Still open to lakes region but where? Coastal areas would be nice too. Thanks in advance.

Staying in Tuscany will give everyone endless possibilities for day trips. We've spent almost three weeks there total over three trips and still have many, many towns to explore! Every town is so different and has its own personality. Staying near Siena would put you within an easy day trip of most of the towns in Tuscany as well as Umbria. Ciao . . .

Stay near San Gimiganano or S of Siena! Great areas and plenty of places to visit/see/things to do.

While Rome will alwys remain my favorite , my children and I just returned from 2 weeks in Italy, a week of which was spent in Tuscany.
We stayed at a place called Castello Montalto.
It is not a village, but is close to Castelnuovo Berardegna
and while I know they do not have anything that will hold 12 in one rental,
they have 10 separate accommodations which you could rent a couple of them , have some space, but still all be together.
The webste is www.montalto.it

We rented Casa Guardia and I was very pleased with the choice,
and with that area.
Easy to drive into Siena, and not far from Florence , and other cities.
Some people staying there even did a daytrip to the coast.

If you decide on this and want any further info feel free to E me
[email protected]

we traveled after school let out this year also, and it was hot!
But, as this was the third time to Italy in the summer, I knew what to expect.
Where we stayed in Tuscany did cool off at night and A/C definitely was not needed.

We were in Tuscany at the end of June and beginning of July. It was hot, but wonderful. I would recommend trying to find a place with air conditioning and a pool.

We also stayed in Tuscany-15 min outside of San Gimiganano. Make sure to get a villa with a pool. Lots of great day trips from that area Pisa (our kids 1,9 and 11) favorite, Lucca, Florence and on the off days we stayed in the small village and had ice cream and swam and had cookouts. It really is the best of both worlds you feel relaxed with the kids at the pool and you get to explore other days. We did travel to Cinque Terra for a fun day at the ocean and then our 3 day trip to Venice(not to be missed!!) I will look for our info about our villa it was everything you could ever hope for. The big green shutters, the beautiful terra cotta floors, the flowers, a big wood burning pizza house? grills and a beautiful view. Next trip will be to Capri or the Amalfi Coast. But this year- 2 weeks to go and we will be in France (the Loire Valley).

I thought your original location choice of the Veneto wasn't bad, considering that you have three generations going on this trip and the children range from ages 1 to 12. My first suggestion of the area around Bassono del Grappa would put you wihtin very easy driving of many cities, small towns, the Lakes and the Adriatic Coast. But if you are not so inclined, my next suggestion might be something near Sperlonga. If you could find a place large enough to accomodate all of you, you would have many nice beaches to go to, Rome, Anzio (any of the grandparents in WWII?)Naples and Pompeii are all easy daytrips as well as the lovely Pontine Islands (Ponza). You could also visit Montecassino and Caserta and the Castelli Romani south of Rome.

I forgot to add that while Tuscany is the usual destination when considering renting a villa for a large family, your children may tire of hilltown after hilltown, vineyard after vineyard. If you do pick Tuscany, I would look at something near Lucca--close to Lucca, Pisa and the seaside near Viareggio but also close enough to go into Florence or Siena for the day.

We stayed in Volterra for a week once...little medieval village in Tuscany..west of Florence...close proximity to Siena, we didn't stay in the village itself but rather right outside in a small apartment in an old farmhouse...we daytripped to the sea, 3 hours (or so) from Montacino and Mutipulciano (sorry spelling)...we drove to Pisa one day...it was a great base amongst the tinkling of sheep's bells and vineyards.

I found the info about our villa. There are pictures but I think it is really alot nicer than the pictures.
The villa was Podere Le Monache in Iano, Montaione 15 min outside of San Gimignano and less than an hour from Florence. I think the website is on a1vacations.com-or just do a search on the web. We found this villa just by searching the web for the size and the area that we needed. We also found our gite in France by searching the web-We need a place for 23 people. I am crossing my fingers that we are as lucky with the gite(in France) as we were with the beautiful villa in Tuscany. Good Luck

Your suggestions are so helpful. I know we continue to skip around regions but we're just so unfamiliar with Italy. I plan to share this with our family--and once again, thank you all. Your detail is very much appreciated.

Grinisa's suggestion of the area south of rome, Sperlinga is a good one.
For our first trip to Italy we split our time between Rome and then a week in Formia
( a short distance south of Sperlonga)
From there you can get to rome within an hour by train,
drive to Montecassino to see the abbey,
to the Castle Royal in Caserta ,
go down to Herculeaneum or Pompei
and get a tragetto /boat to the islands that are off the coast,
plus there are interesting things to see in Gaeta and Terracina.

To tell the truth My children enjoyed the Formia area more than the Tuscany area. We had a pool in tuscany, but they really enjoyed the beach.

Rachel, Everyone has their own favorites based on personal experience. My advice is to spend 2 hours digesting all of the info about renting in Italy at slowtrav.com before you go crazy looking at properties. Then, decide 3 criteria that will narrow your search:
Location--price range--bed to bath ratio
That will keep you sane.

I agree with Bob but would add a pool into the list of "must haves". That's exactly how we chose our place near San Gimignano and we couldn't have been happier with what we ended up with. The search can be a bit overwhelming due to the number of options available. Good luck and let us know what you choose! Tory

Update regarding our choice for home base for large family vacation! We've rented a restored 18th century chapel in Siena that will sleep all 12 of us including infants (And with a pool!) They originally said they'd rent for no less than two weeks but we asked them for a weeks rental and they agreed! Five minutes from Siena. After a week we will all go our seperate ways and visit other parts of Italy. Thank you all for your great advice!